Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025

Vancouver activists hand out FREE COCAINE & demand govt give addicts drugs

Vancouver activists hand out FREE COCAINE & demand govt give addicts drugs

A group calling itself the Drug User Liberation Front has been handing out doses of additive-free cocaine to residents of the city’s skid row. They say the illegal protest was designed to draw attention to the issue of overdoses.

Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is a neighborhood teeming with addicts, criminals, and the homeless. The neighborhood is considered the poorest address in Canada and, as of 2016, a third of all those living there were addicted to drugs. Several years earlier, the BBC described the area as being “home to one of the worst drug problems in North America.”

Handing out free drugs in a place like this would seemingly only add to the misery, but that’s exactly what this activist group did on Tuesday. Gathering at an intersection, they gave out phials of cocaine that they claimed had been tested for harmful additives.


According to a local reporter, the group also planned on distributing free heroin, but couldn’t source any that hadn’t been tainted with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Cocaine and heroin are Schedule I narcotics under Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, with possession and distribution carrying a maximum of seven years and life imprisonment respectively. However, offenders are regularly punished less severely, and Vancouver Police Department enforces drug laws at officers’ discretion. As such, the activists were left alone by police on Tuesday.

Fentanyl contamination is killing the city’s heroin users at record rates. 170 overdosed in May, and more than 5,500 in the province of British Columbia have died of an overdose since 2016. The situation in Canada mirrors that in the US, where deaths by overdose hit a record 70,000 in 2017 and are predicted to rise again this year. The majority have been attributed to the heroin having been adulterated with fentanyl, which makes it up to 100 times more potent than the black-tar heroin better known to addicts. Additives such as benzodiazepine and levamisole have also been turning up with greater frequency in cocaine.

The Drug User Liberation Front wants provincial authorities to give addicts free quality-assured drugs, saying that “access to these necessary substances is both inadequate and urgently needed.”

In addition, the group wants the government to defund the Vancouver Police Department, decriminalize drug possession, and open more safe-injecting centers. Many of the activists who gathered on Tuesday are self-described “drug consumers,” and want to be allowed to continue their habit. “There’s nothing wrong with being a drug user,” one told Vice News. “You can be a drug user and be an absolutely amazing member of society.”

The government likely sees things differently, however. That said, British Columbia did expand access to narcotics at the end of March, prioritizing addicts with a high risk of withdrawal, who presented a crime risk, and were suspected of infection with Covid-19. Still, prevention and enforcement remain cornerstones of the province’s drug policy.

And, while Canadians are broadly in favor of supervised injecting sites, 85 percent surveyed want to see addicts placed in compulsory treatment programs. A majority, too, are against the decriminalization of all drugs.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
×